Within the context of the work and achievements of James Croll, this paper reviews the records of direct observations of glacial landforms and sediments made by Charles Lyell, Archibald and James Geikie and James Croll himself, in order to evaluate their contributions to the sciences of glacial geology and Quaternary environmental change. The paper outlines the social and physical environment of Croll's youth and contrasts this with the status and experiences of Lyell and the Geikies. It also outlines the character and role of the ‘Glasgow School’ of geologists, who stimulated Croll's interest into the causes of climate change and directed his focus to the glacial and ‘interglacial’ deposits of central Scotland. Contributions are outlined in chronological order, drawing attention to: (i) Lyell's high-quality observations and interpretations of glacial features in Glen Clova and Strathmore and his subsequent rejection of the glacial theory in favour of processes attributed to floating icebergs; (ii) the significant impact of Archibald Geikie's 1863 paper on the ‘glacial drift of Scotland’, which firmly established the land-ice theory; (iii) the fact that, despite James Croll's inherent dislike of geology and fieldwork, he provided high-quality descriptions and interpretations of the landforms and sediments of central Scotland in order to test his theory of climate change; and (iv) the great communication skills of James Geikie, enhanced by contacts and evidence from around the world. It is concluded that whilst direct observations of glacial landforms and sediments were critical to the long-term development of the study of glaciation, the acceptance of this theory was dependent also upon the skills, personality and status of the Geikies and Croll, who developed and promoted the concepts. Sadly, the subsequent rejection of the land-ice concept by Lyell resulted in the same factors challenging the acceptance of the glacial theory.

中文翻译：

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Lyell、Geikies 和 Croll 对陆地冰川沉积物和地貌的观察

本文在詹姆斯·克罗尔的工作和成就的背景下，回顾了查尔斯·莱尔、阿奇博尔德和詹姆斯·盖基以及詹姆斯·克罗尔本人对冰川地貌和沉积物的直接观察记录，以评估他们对冰川科学的贡献。地质学和第四纪环境变化。该论文概述了 Croll 青年时期的社会和物质环境，并将其与 Lyell 和 Geikies 的地位和经历进行了对比。它还概述了地质学家“格拉斯哥学派”的特征和作用，他们激发了克罗尔对气候变化原因的兴趣，并将他的注意力集中在苏格兰中部的冰川和“间冰期”沉积物上。贡献按时间顺序列出，提请注意：(i) Lyell' 对格伦克洛瓦和斯特拉斯莫尔冰川特征的高质量观​​察和解释，以及他随后拒绝冰川理论，支持归因于漂浮冰山的过程；(ii) Archibald Geikie 1863 年关于“苏格兰冰川漂移”的论文的重大影响，它牢固地确立了陆冰理论；(iii) 尽管詹姆斯·克罗尔天生不喜欢地质学和田野调查，但他对苏格兰中部的地貌和沉积物提供了高质量的描述和解释，以检验他的气候变化理论；(iv) James Geikie 出色的沟通技巧，得益于来自世界各地的联系和证据。得出的结论是，虽然对冰川地貌和沉积物的直接观察对冰川研究的长期发展至关重要，但对这一理论的接受还取决于 Geikies 和 Croll 的技能、个性和地位，他们开发并推广了理念。可悲的是，随后莱尔对陆冰概念的拒绝导致了同样的因素对冰川理论的接受提出了挑战。